Canada won’t meet with new commission on First Nations child welfare reform, chair says

February 25, 2025 Canuck

Canada refuses to meet with a new commission established to renegotiate a landmark agreement on First Nations child and family services reform, the group’s chairperson says.

Pauline Frost, chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Yukon and chair of the National Children’s Chiefs Commission (NCCC), said the swiftly created body is now waiting for answers after writing to the prime minister, his Liberal government and their lawyers.

“Essentially, they’re refusing to meet with us, but we’ve reached out anyhow to find a pathway forward to productive negotiations,” Frost said last week.

Chiefs mandated the NCCC to reset talks on a $47.8-billion proposal to overhaul the federal government’s on-reserve child welfare program last fall, when they rejected the offer at an Assembly of First Nations meeting in Calgary.

The commission is now operational, with terms of reference, legal counsel and chiefs working pro bono in 11 regions, said Frost. But they’re still missing one key element — someone to negotiate with.

“This should not be a burden or a barrier. Canada already has a mandate, so they should really just do what’s right and come back to the table,” said Frost.

The standstill emphasizes the cloud of uncertainty around the future of the potentially historic deal, which would partly resolve an 18-year-old legal battle over children’s rights.

In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the federal government to reform its First Nations Child and Family Services Program, concluding it was tearing families apart and shattering lives through systemically racist funding practices.

For Frost, the order remains in force and the situation as urgent as ever. The modern child welfare system is no different than residential schools, she said, with the same disparities, inequities, trauma and intergenerational impact.

“This work is imminent, it’s critical, and the human rights tribunal is getting a little impatient with process.”

A spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada Minister Patty Hajdu didn’t answer directly when asked why Ottawa won’t meet with the group.

A woman gestures while speaking on stage with flags in the background behind her. — Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu speaks during the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs Assembly in Ottawa in December. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

“The Government of Canada will support First Nations in the way that they choose to organize and be represented,” wrote press secretary Jennifer Kozelj in a statement.

“Canada isn’t refusing to meet with anyone. It is unclear of the role between the NCCC and the AFN and if the NCCC is leading negotiations on behalf of the AFN.”

An ‘opt-in’ process

On that front, in a letter last month, six regional chiefs accused National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak of “stoking division” and “inaction” by failing to support the NCCC. They also suggested Woodhouse Nepinak may be too close to the Trudeau government and the Liberal Party.

Woodhouse Nepinak rejected the inference as “inappropriate and malicious,” noting that First Nations leaders voted to keep the commission independent from the AFN.

She also highlighted a technical barrier facing the commission: AFN is a party to the human rights complaint, while the new entity is not, so some co-operation will be required.

Meanwhile, in an eyebrow-raising remark two weeks ago, a chief in Manitoba said the original settlement needs an “opt-in” provision so chiefs who support it can sign on.

At a news conference, Derek Nepinak, chief of Minegoziibe Anishinabe also known as Pine Creek First Nation, said last October’s vote was “infiltrated” by lobby groups. He told CBC News last week he feels the vote was compromised.

“The only solution I’ve seen in the last 25-30 years is the final settlement agreement that was offered last year,” Nepinak said.

A man in a headdress speaks into a microphone at a press conference. — Chief Derek Nepinak says the final settlement agreement presents the practical solution his community is looking for, despite chiefs rejecting the deal nationally. (Ian Froese/CBC)

His concerns echo the national chief, who blamed the agreement’s defeat on an organized campaign by child welfare agencies. In December, chiefs passed another resolution demanding she apologize, though it isn’t clear if that’s happened.

Nepinak said he isn’t looking for political heroism, but practical solutions.

“There’s ambition, ambitious politicians out there who want to be the hero. I don’t need a hero. I need a practical solution, and I feel that we had that in October,” he said.

In the statement from Indigenous Services Canada, Kozelj said Canada hasn’t received a formal “opt-in” proposition and wouldn’t speculate on hypotheticals.

In a letter on Jan. 6, Justice Canada told the AFN that Canada will not restart national negotiations, pursuing instead a carve-out deal with chiefs in Ontario, the only region to endorse the original offer.

Another letter from Canada followed soon after, this time to the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, a co-complainant in the human rights case. It further laid out Canada’s opposition to some of the chiefs’ demands for renegotiation.

This prompted Caring Society executive director Cindy Blackstock to file a tribunal motion to force Canada back to the table, but Frost is optimistic they can find answers without more legal wrangling.

“The last thing that anybody wants is litigation.”

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